Friday, December 31, 2010

2010: The Year in Scenic

We can't pretend to have kept up with new movies, music or television shows in 2010 like many other blogs and publications who have been posting listicles like they're going out of style (ha, the listicle is always in style, and double ha - it sounds like testicle!). So here's just a random assortment of shit that was great for us in a CT Scenic kind of way this year. 

Film?!

This was basically a shit year for movies, which could have really thrown us off course, since going to the movies had been a major "social" activity for us in previous years. There's nothing very social about going to a movie though, is there? Well, we didn't really see shit worth mentioning in the mainstream theaters this year, but we enjoyed (or in some cases didn't enjoy) various indie offerings from our favorite "alt" venue, Real Art Ways. We're a little ashamed to admit it, but our "movie of the year" title will have to go to The Human Centipede, even though by a lot of objective standards this film was rather awful. But we developed a special relationship with this movie and helping host it's Hartford debut at RAW was one of the coolest things we've ever done - in any year.  Though we were a little disappointed at how few people were actually willing to pose as human centipedes themselves. Seriously, fully clothed - what's the big deal? Congrats again to the few who participated. Anyone else wanting to redeem themselves in this department, it's never too late to send us your pics!

We also enjoyed that great documentary about Phil Spector and awkward first date flick Antichrist. And outside the RAW bubble, we had a great time with the cast and crew of A Safe House at the Silk City Flick Fest, and were relieved to find out their movie was great too, so we didn't have any of those weird straining-for-a-fake-compliment moments. "Um, yeah, guys, that was really really... interesting."

Supernatural Threats


Although we'd much rather have sex with vampire hotties (from Sweden if possible), 2010 was undeniably the year of the Zombie. And while definitely don't want sex of any kind with actual zombies no matter their nation of origin, zombies have nevertheless created better opportunities for participatory fun this year than their blood-sucking brethren. We were inspired by special effects pro Matt Corrigan's how to make (and kill!) a zombie clinic. And we'd heard of Zombie Pub Crawls before, but never in CT! We were encouraged by the enthusiastic participation we witnessed at Hartford's First Annual Zombie Pub Crawl.

CT Music

Well, if you've been following us at all, you already know our favorite CT band is Sidewalk Dave, and that we love them so much we want to marry them, even if we can't seem to get their names straight (sorry, Chris - who the fuck is Bruce?). We're so glad they came into our lives, played our excellent party, and have a regular gig at The Half Door (next one is Jan. 26 - we'll totally be there). We're also excited by Sidewalk Dave's similarly Americana oriented CT friends, The Proud Flesh and Elison Jackson

Our other favorite CT band is Baby G, who play sad, sad original blues. We recently caught the duo version of this act and were lucky enough to snag a demo. We hope Baby G will have an official release sometime soon. We need more! Baby G has a gig coming up at The Buttonwood Tree Jan. 8. 

And our other, other favorite CT band The Midnightmares have been helping us to relive our punk rock adolescence (well, those of use who had a punk rock adolescence, ahem). We first reunited with our old friend Matt Mullarkey during the early days of CT Scenic, and including his latest band at our party was kind of a no-brainer. Looks like our next shot at them isn't until Feb. 12 at some place called Rack n' Roll in Stamford. That is not our neck of the woods. Maybe we can just throw another party.

Scenic Envy
The Scenics are all Hartford-ish based, but we're not afraid to visit other towns in CT (and sometimes other states!). This year we found ourselves returning again and again to New Haven and Torrington. In New Haven we just can't get enough of live music and burlesque at Cafe Nine, where there always seems to be something enticing on the schedule. And our favorite New Haven gay bar, 168 York Street Cafe, is just so homey - and home to our "favorite New Haven drag queen" (ha - like we know any others!) Robin Banks. New Haven's downtown is just so much bigger and better than Hartford's, with some many places we actually want to go within walking distance of one another. When we aren't drinking at the bars, we're enjoying New Haven's bounty of "ethnic" cuisine, at such Scenic favorites as the York Street Noodle House and Mamoun's falafel.

Torrington is CT's sexy little secret. Yeah, you're like "Torrington? Sexy? Puh-lease. "Well, shows what you know. We'd be going out in Torrington all the frakking time if it were just a little closer. Our top spots there are the Rocket food truck (they sell deliciously, semi-healthy food from high quality and local ingredients - out of a truck!), Brazen Betties (amazing clothing, jewelry, arts and crafts by exclusively CT peeps), and Snapper Magee's (a punk rock oriented bar). CT Scenic has called Torrington "the next god damn Collinsville." Believe it.

Trendy hobbies and interests

This year two out of three Scenics became Bikram fanatics. It's how we manage to keep our sexy figures in spite of the relentless drinking, eating and general debauchery that maintaining this blog demands of us. We didn't have any yoga background prior to this and understand it's a controversial practice, but we're in it now and we can't imagine doing yoga without the 105 degree heat.

We've also been all over this burlesque trend. We've been to a bunch of shows featuring CT burlesque performers and think they are just about the sexiest, funnest gigs around. All our favorite dancers will be participating at a benefit for the CT Humane Society's Fox Clinic Jan. 8 at Daniel Street in Milford.

And of course there were donuts. We started in with the donut reviews because love donuts, and we can totally afford them. We've enjoyed CT's best indie donuts at shops throughout the state. And even though we thought they kind of sold out with that Advocate cover, we're still gonna eat them.

Well, this post could go on and on forever, but we have parties to get to and shit like that. This year we really hit our stride with the blog, and we truly appreciate the encouragement and support from our friends and readers, as well as the party invites from those readers who became our friends. We know commenting on this Blogspot site can be kind of a pain in the ass - it doesn't even work with certain popular browsers. But we'd love to hear from you and get your hot tips about great CT stuff, even if you don't actually know you. Especially if we don't actually know you! That's the point - CT Scenic is for everyone. Send us an email or join us on Facebook if you haven't already. Or celebrity sight in public.

Happy New Year.

No comments:

Post a Comment